Innovation and Research: How to conduct quality research for an underdeveloped country with no committed resources?

Since November 2015 till date, more than 20 researchers and practitioners have been working together to deliver quality research, articles and concept papers. The group has also organized panel discussions and online webinars to present their findings and engage the broader audience. All this at no cost (zero) to anyone except the team members who voluntarily work for this cause. In 2015 a small group of individuals discussed the need for a research organization in Afghanistan that would look at providing insight for impact. At that time, there was no such organization or entity throughout the country that would provide a research-based approach to technology, innovation, and science. Since its inception, ITRCA has gone on to become the biggest technology research organization in the country.

Partner: Innovation and Technology Research Center for Afghanistan (ITRCA), the non-profit affiliate of Awal has acquired an innovative approach to involving masters level students, practitioners, experts, and volunteers to come together and do for-good research that will have an impact in Afghanistan. These individuals connect in different stages to assist each other and produce high-quality documents.

Current Works: The team together has produced 10 quality publications that look at different aspects of technology in Afghanistan. Most notably two papers on Afghanistan’s higher education public institutions, the mobile networks and a discourse on cybersecurity and digital threats. ITRCA team members have also touched base on trending and innovative technologies that could be used to transform the development of the country. The team is further building upon these previous works to come up with tangible initiatives on the ground for Afghanistan that could enhance the academic sector including looking in to becoming the country’s first publisher of scientific journals and to provide tools to the higher education institutes to help students scale up the quality of their research.

More information: ITRCA conducts public-interest research on ICT policy, Development and regulation that responds to national, and regional needs. It provides Afghanistan researchers, governments, regulators, operators, institutions, development agencies, and community organizations with the information and analysis required to develop innovative and appropriate policies, solutions, effective implementation and successful network operations that can contribute to sustainable development. The network contributes to the gathering of up to date ICT data and establish repository of information for furthering research and policy formulation. The programme will promote interaction between researchers and their peers at national, regional and international levels to harmonize methodologies, tools and standards for conducting public-interest ICT research.

You can get to know the ITRCA team members here or visit their website at http://Itrca.af.